George owned the one-storey brick warehouse that once stored carnival equipment for the Savidge Amusement Company in Wayne Nebraska. Before 1940, railroads connected everything. Today, radio, television, movies, and the highways distribute drama and comedy from Chicago and New York, but before 1940, everything depended on the railroads. Starting in 1915, the Savidge Company grew from a single boxcar to a twenty-car pullman train, traveling from Wayne with 125 employees, tents, rides, sideshows, animals, and concession stands to recreate popular dramatic productions for the people in small towns throughout the Midwest. George was lucky to rent part of the warehouse to a local construction company.
Small-town lives